Five invests in Signiant

Root 6 has sold a Signiant digital media distribution and workflow automation system to Five, the new home of Neighbours.

The investment will help the broadcaster to make the move from tape-based to file-based broadcast operations. The installation will take place this month (April 2008).

The Signiant technology will work with other systems within Five - such as digital asset management, transcode and quality control - to provide a digital media supply chain that spans both the Five operation and its partners and suppliers in post-production and video-on-demand.

Five will also be using Signiant to control and prioritise the movement of digital assets with external partners ITFC, Red Bee Media, Ascent Media Group and British Telecom.

All of the sites will be Signiant enabled allowing Five to have a consistent method to control, accelerate, and secure the movement of its content between these locations using a variety of network connections including the public internet as a delivery vehicle.

Five will be able to control and monitor the movement of its content through the digital supply chain as it moves between the internal and external processes and also have visibility of its assets in transit.

Chris Anning, chief technology officer for Five, said: “One of the unique benefits which Signiant is bringing to Five is the ability for us to build and manage automated, network aware file-based workflows.

“Traditional workflow systems have only really concentrated on moving the assets over the local area network, but our file-based workflow operations will involve digital collaboration with other suppliers and partners.

“For this, it means we need an ability to build workflows that are aware not only of all the networks available to Five but can also prioritise the assets accordingly as they move over these digital networks between each location. Signiant gives us this much needed ability.”